The Rest is ChiswickW4.com
Richard Osman names this site as his go-to news source
Richard Osman (left) and Marina Hyde talking about local journalism. Picture: Goalhanger
November 3, 2024
Chiswick-based TV present and author, Richard Osman has revealed on a podcast his source of local news.
He was taking part in a discussion with Marina Hyde on ‘The Rest is Entertainment’ on churnalism and click bait.
In a section on the decline of local journalism and particularly the practices of Reach Plc, Richard said, “We have a site called ChiswickW4… and that’s literally…, after the BBC, that’s the next news site I go to because I want to know what new shop is opening. You know that’s what people like and also, you know, talks about… everything in the local area.”
The pair had been bemoaning the general decline of local news reporting and the way in which larger companies had been pressuring their journalists to produce clickbait with ‘forty different versions of an article about Martin Lewis’.
Marina said that she had been told for people working for larger media groups that they were being tasked with producing eight or more stories a day which, she said, meant that they would inevitably looking to AI to generate content rather than doing any proper research.
Richard said, “We know that the regional press is in crisis and actually it's never been more important and people love local news and people love hyperlocal news but there are a number of regional centres that do have great print newspapers still. But if you do have one of those then hold it dear because there are fewer and fewer and fewer of them.”
Marina was also critical of the Evening Standard which she blasted for not launching an investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire under the editorship of George Osborne despite the proximity of the newspaper’s offices to the fire.
She did have praise for independent publications such as the Manchester Mill and the Bristol Cable as well as her former colleague at the Guardian Jim Waterson who is now reporting on London.
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